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Land values are still a solid investment

An agricultural real estate specialist says farmland is still a solid investment even though farmland values overall are softening in the wake of lower commodity prices.

Jim Farrell is president of Farmers National Company.  He says, “In a general sense we think in most of the areas where there is good farmland we’re down at least 10 and as much as 15 percent from the all-time highs that we set back in 2013.”

But, he tells Brownfield over the last 12 months land values have been fairly stable and have seen very little deterioration. “We’ve noticed in the past 60-90 days a bit of an uptick in interest and an uptick in the number of properties that are being sold,” he says.

He says that suggests investors still see farmland as an attractive investment.  “Iowa not as much – but in Nebraska, Illinois, and Indiana there are more buyers in that area that are buying land,” he says.  “They plan to buy and hold and they plan to hold for the retracement that we might see and then see an increase in value over time.”

Farrell spoke to Brownfield at the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting in Kansas City.